Over-the-Counter, Medical, and Professional-Grade Skin Care Products: What’s the Difference? An In-Depth Review

When it comes to skin care, choosing the right products can be a daunting and confusing task. Thousands of brands and products compete for your attention, touting catchy names and convincing ingredients. Many companies spend millions on marketing efforts in the form of ads, paid celebrity endorsements, store product placement, and magazine mentions.

To the average person, this deluge of products and information can be overwhelming. So much money is wasted on products that don’t live up to the hype. The key is education, so let’s get started.

Defining Skin Care Experts

First let’s answer this question: Who are the real skin care experts? Who should you listen to?

Dermatologists are medical physicians that treat people with a wide variety of medical skin issues. Some dermatologists are more focused on cosmetic issues than others. They can also be incentivized by skin care companies to sell or endorse their products. Patients often see dermatologists on an as-needed basis due to the high cost of medical care and availability.

Skin chemists/scientists work more in the background, researching the impact of various ingredients and applications to the skin, most often more medical purposes, but also for cosmetic needs.

Estheticians complete 600 hours (CA) of advanced training and testing in skin science, chemistry, and practical application. They are experts focused on the appearance of the skin and build clientele which they see frequently for a long time. Because they actually treat people with different skin types on a frequent basis, they become highly proficient in which ingredients and applications really make a difference. Some (like our founder) develop their own formulations and products based on that direct experience.

Then there are over-the-counter (OTC) brands comprised of teams of people that buy or develop formulations to sell. OTC brands range from department store brands such as Estee Lauder, Clinque, and Clarins to drugstore brands like Neutrogena and Oil of Olay to multi-level marketing brands like Mary Kay or Arbonne. Brands sell their skin care products at a wide variety of price points.

So, who should you listen to? First, always listen to your doctor if you have a skin symptom such as a rash, unusual mole, painful boil, or other medical skin issue. To improve the appearance of your skin, we advocate that estheticians provide the best expertise not only because of their extensive training but also because they treat a wide variety of clients and directly see the results of various ingredients. As for OTC brands, their primary expertise is marketing; most OTC products are not worthy of your time and money. Keep reading to learn why.

Defining Levels of Skin Care Products

There are three main categories: 1) Medical-grade (sometimes called pharmaceutical-grade), 2) Professional-grade, and 3) Over-the-counter (OTC). Medical and professional-grade products can both be considered “premium” because they are very similar in terms of the selection and concentration of high-quality, effective ingredients.

Medical-grade products are under FDA regulation to contain 99.9% pure ingredients. They may also contain higher concentrations of ingredients that are considered medical. For the most part, the products include high-quality, premium ingredients with small molecules that better penetrate the skin and don’t contain dyes, perfumes or other fillers like many OTC products do.

Unfortunately, there can be a downside to some of these products. It’s not uncommon for experienced estheticians to work with clients who come to them after using a medical-grade product that ended up being overkill. The concentration of some ingredients is too harsh and can create even more problems. Although a medical-grade product might be recommended by a dermatologist, in some cases these professionals do not see and treat the same patient frequently enough to see the actual effects.

The majority of medical-grade products are also very expensive. For example, a well-known medical-grade brand’s 1 oz serum is $115, and another’s is $182. These brands have to cover the costs of marketing and distribution to doctors along with the testing for the medical-grade label.

Professional-grade products are often formulated by expert estheticians with the hands-on experience of treating clients day in and day out. Just like medical-grade, the ingredients in professional-grade products are premium, of the highest quality, small molecule, made in small-batches, and without dyes, perfumes, and other fillers.

The difference is that they don’t contain ingredients considered “medicine” level; for example, some medical-grade products contain hydroquinone, a skin bleach that many estheticians would never recommend because it’s so damaging. With other ingredients, it’s human nature to think “more is better,” but that’s not necessarily the case according to people that work with clients every day. While there may be specific medical conditions that can benefit from medical-grade skin care products, an experienced esthetician is likely to recommend a powerful professional-grade skin care line that can be used consistently for a long time without risk of causing more issues. These products include the same high-quality ingredients as medical-grade, but with better delivery agents and other ingredients that aren’t as harsh to the skin.

Professional-grade products are frequently sold by cosmetic dermatologists and estheticians. The price point tends to be more reasonable because they mostly sell to their discerning clients. For example, our poweful serums are 1 oz for $60, which is half the cost of a comparable medical-grade variety.

While there’s no requirement for FDA testing, professional-grade products are also formulated and produced to the highest standards because the formulators’ name and reputation is on the line. Estheticians are service-oriented and develop these products based on actual client experience; you can trust their formulations.

Over-the-counter products (including MLM brands) are basically a free-for-all! An ingredient can be listed even if there’s less than 1% in the bottle … so without the medical or professional-grade label, there’s no telling how much is actually contained within. Most OTC products use larger molecule ingredients, are large-batch/mass-produced, and the prices are usually very high to cover the massive marketing costs. Many contain dyes, perfumes, and other fillers.

Summary: Professional-grade vs. OTC

We clearly endorse professional-grade products because they’re highly effective, are best for long-term skin care, endorsed by many dermatologists, and are formulated by people who do hands-on work on all kinds of skin types on a daily basis. Here are the main differences of professional-grade vs. OTC products.

Actual Amount of Active Ingredients

It's assumed that OTC products may contain the same active ingredients as professional-grade products, because they're listed on the ingredients label. However, that's misleading. 

Product ingredients are required to be listed according to the amount of each ingredient in the final product, from the highest amount to lowest. However, once the amount is below 1%, this rule no longer applies; the remaining ingredients of less than 1% can be listed in any order.

This means you might have a product with much less than 1% of an active ingredient, yet the ingredient name is shown, along with other ingredients that are also less than 1%. (There is a big difference between 1% and 0.01% for example.)

The bottom line is that some ingredients that could be powerful tools in the right amounts will simply not work at all in these reduced amounts. The average consumer has no way of knowing this.

Batch Size

OTC products are made in large batches and are often laden with preservatives to allow time for these large batches to be produced, shipped, and then sit on a shelf for a while before they are purchased. By the time the product reaches your skin, its effectiveness has further deteriorated.

Professional-grade focuses on small batches, which eliminates the need for preservatives because the focus is not on mass production and distribution. The creators are able to pay more attention to the results that each product is achieving. These products are formulated by professional estheticians with chemistry backgrounds and years of experience with multiple skin types.

Penetration into the Skin

The only way to maintain healthy skin is to boost your collagen and elastin, and speed up cell turnover. This can only be done by targeting this deep dermal layer rather than letting the product just sit on your skin. Professional-grade products are smaller molecule and designed to reach the lower layers of skin to boost collagen and elastin and promote cell renewal.

OTC brands strive to make the product more appealing with a fancy bottle, perfumes, dyes, and artificial colors (all fillers). Because of the increased packaging and filler costs, the oils used as delivery agents in these products are often low-quality, inexpensive oils, containing mineral oils and petroleum. Instead of penetrating into the skin and reaching the deep dermal layer, these ingredients do nothing beneficial, instead often clogging pores and causing further problems.

Basic Formulas

When you look in the mirror, you start to see aging lines or sunspots. Concerned, you head to your department store or drugstore and begin reading labels, looking for the perfect product to solve your problems. This is called self-diagnosis.

But skin care companies have a liability issue if they make a product that is too powerful when individuals self-diagnosing their skin care use their products and have negative side effects.

To avoid this problem, the brand either buys pre-existing mild formulations or create their own products from basic formulas that are more of a one-size-fits-all. Their products are designed to barely work.

Price

OTC brands spend lots of money on advertising and marketing. The combination of ingredients, fillers, packaging, distribution, advertising, and marketing mean they must mark up the cost a lot to make a profit. People want to believe that the more they pay, the better the results will be. Sadly, this is not true.  

At Skintessence, we are dedicated to helping people achieve healthy, glowing skin with our professional-grade, small-batch, premium botanical products. If you’re new to Skintessence, try our Start Here guide that outlines all of the products needed for the 4 major skin types!

• Sources

  “How Do Professional Skin Care Products Compare to Over The Counter Lines? - Renée Rouleau.” Expert Skin Advice from Renee Rouleau, blog.reneerouleau.com/how-do-professional-skin-care-products-compare-to-over-the-counter-lines/.

  “Are Professional Products Really That Different From Over The Counter?” Peace of Mind Wellness • Skin & Body Care, peaceofmindwellness.com/2014/01/are-professional-products-really-that-different-from-over-the-counter/.

  “Key Differences between Drugstore, Cosmeceutical and Pharmaceutical Skin Care” - Michelle Skelly, Anti-Aging Skincare Specialist, 21 June 2016, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/key-differences-between-drugstore-cosmeceutical-skin-care-skelly/